You will have to consider more than just yourself

 

For anyone living a spiritual life, the most important practice is openheartedness. But dealing with life with compassion and kindness is not easy. We tend to live in the terms of "me". But if you´re interested in the spiritual life, you will have to consider more than just yourself.

 

 

Dainin Katagiri-roshi - You have to say something. Manifesting Zen insight.

Kindness and compassion

 

Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion.

 

 

Dalai Lama, from - Kindness, Clarity, and Insight

...og áfram með Uchiyama

 

An attitude of feeling safe and at peace as long as one is sitting is no good at all.   All sentient beings are crying out in one form or another, they're suffering and in distress. We have to foster the vow deep in our hearts that we will work to settle all sentient beings. Vow is fundamental to our practice.

Uchiyama roshi

... we need to find the real meaning of our life

 

 

As a natural expression, we need to find the real meaning of our life in taking care of others and in putting our life-spirit into that attitude and effort. To find our life worth living isn't the same thing as just feeling a constant emotional happiness. The life-spirit that meets everything with parental mind: That is joyful mind.

Uchiyama roshi - Opening the Hand of Thought  

 

KERTAHUGLEIÐSLA Í HALLARGARÐINUM

 

 

                            KERTAHUGLEIÐSLA Í HALLARGARÐINUM

 

 

Verið öll velkomin í kertahugleiðslu í Hallargarðinum þann 20.maí kl. 17:00 eða strax eftir vinnu. 20. maí er mjög sérstakur dagur en þá er skv. tíbetskum Búddisma allar gjörðir okkar mörg þúsund sinnum öflugri en venjulega þess vegna komum við saman sem einstaklingar og minnums allra látinna í Tíbet undanfarnar vikur og mánuði og óskum þess að öllum hindrunum fyrir endanlegum friði verði rutt úr vegi.

 

Sjáumst sem flest og klæðumst eftir veðrinu. Takið með ykkur stormkerti eða venjuleg kerti og eitthvað til að sitja á ef þið viljið sitja á jörðinni.

Mailið má gjarnan ganga áfram til annarra og tökum með okkur sem flesta. Því fleiri sem við erum þeim mun öflugri verða bænir okkar.

 

Með kærleiks og friðarkveðju

Vala og Halldór

 

 

English: Welcome to a candle meditation on the 20 of May in Hallargarðurinn (on the corner of Fríkirkjuvegur and Skothúsvegur, in front of Kvennaskólinn) at 17:00.

20 of May is a very special day in tibetian Buddhism because then all our actions will be many thousand times as powerfull as usual. So we come together for a 30 min. meditation in memory of all those who have lost their lives in Tibet the last weeks and months and to pray for all obsticels to dissapere so there will be a lasting peace in Tibet. Please bring friends and let the mail pass on to others. Clothing according to weather and bring something to sit on and a candle.

With love and peace

Vala and Halldor

Beginner's Mind - The earliest known version of the lecture

 

The earliest known version of the lecture that Shunryu Suzuki gave in Los Altos on Beginner's Mind which was used in the book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. This is from a manuscripts typed by Marian Derby, known to many as Marian Mountain. Marian edited her transcripts quite minimally, so the Suzuki quote you can see above and below might have even been further from what it came to be. This is something he wanted. He didn't want his lectures to be printed or published without editing by his students. In the case of the Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind lectures as well as others edited in his lifetime, the editors (Trudy Dixon or Richard Baker) would go over the editing with Suzuki - though I seem to remember that he didn't seem to care much and just trusted what they were doing. The spirit is not lost in editing - at least in my opinion by the editing that has been done so far.

 

 

Beginner's Mind

 

In beginner's mind we have many possibilities, but in expert mind there is not much possibility.

 

People say, "To study Zen is difficult," but there is some misunderstanding why it is difficult.  It is not difficult because to sit in cross-legged position is hard, or to attain enlightenment is hard, but it is hard to keep our mind pure, and to keep our practice pure in original way.  Zen become more and more impure, and after Zen school established in China it is development of Zen, but at the same time it become impure.  But I don't want to talk about Chinese Zen or history of Zen this morning, but why I say I want to talk about why it is difficult is because just you came here this morning, getting up early is very valuable experience for you.  Just you want to come is very valuable.  We say, "Sho shin."  "Sho shin" means "Beginner's mind."  If we can keep beginner's mind always, that is the goal of our practice.  We recited Prajna Paramita Sutra this morning only once.  I think we recited very well, but what will happen to us if we recite twice, three times, four time, and more?  Then we will easily lose our attitude in reciting -- original attitude in reciting -- the sutra.  Same thing will happen to us.  For awhile we will keep our beginner's mind in your Zen practice but if we continue to practice one year, two years, three years, or more, we will have some improvement, and we will lose the limitless meaning of the original mind.  In beginner's mind we have many possibilities, but in expert mind there is not much possibility.  So in our practice it is important to resume to our original mind, or inmost mind, which we, ourselves -- even we, ourselves do not know what it is.  This is the most important thing for us.  The founder of our school emphasized this point.  We have to remain always beginner's mind.  This is the secret of Zen, and secret of various practices -- practice of flower arrangement, practice of Japanese singing, and various art.  If we keep our beginner's mind we keep our precepts.  When we lose our beginner's mind we will lose all the precepts.

 

 

 

And for Zen students the most important thing is not to be dualistic.  We should not lose our self-satisfied state of mind.  We should not be too demanding, or we should not be too greedy.  Our mind should be always rich, and self-satisfied.  When our mind become demanding -- when we become longing for something, we will violate our precepts, not to kill, not to be immoral, not to steal, or not to tell lie, and so on.  Those are based on our greedy mind.  When our mind is self-satisfied we will keep our precepts.  When we ourselves is always self-satisfied, we have our original mind, and we can practice good, and we are always true to ourselves.  So, the most difficult thing is to keep our beginner's mind in our practice.  So, if you can keep your beginner's mind forever, you are Buddha.  In this point, our practice should be constant.  We should practice our way with beginner's mind always.  There is no need to have deep understanding about Zen.  Even though you read Zen literature you have to keep this beginner's mind.  You have to read it with fresh mind.  We shouldn't say, "I know what is Zen," or "I have attained enlightenment."  We should be always big enough.  This is very important.  And we should be very, very careful about this point.

 

 

 

I was very much impressed by your practice this morning.  Although your posture was not perfect, the feeling you have here is wonderful.  There is no comparison to it.  At the same time we should make our effort to keep this feeling forever in your practice.  This is very, very important.  In Japanese art -- when you master some art -- when you become successor of your master, you will receive some paper on which something is written.  No one know what it is.  It is very difficult to figure out what it is -- to explain what it is.  But if you have beginner's mind, it's all right.  If you can say, "Thank you very much," that's enough.  But this is very difficult.  So by your practice we must make our beginner's mind more and more -- we should appreciate beginner's mind.  This is the secret of practice.  Zen practice.

 

 

Suzuki roshi  

 

Kriya yoga

 

Conscious realization of one's unity with the spirit is the goal of life, and, consciously or unconsciously, every person is trying to advance towards that end. When he realizes his unity with the universal Self - his own spiritual existence - a person becomes one with the universe.

 

Cosmic consciousness is spread all over the universe and pervades everything. Human consciousness is limited to the human body and its environment. To attain cosmic consciousness, it is necessary to expand the consciousness that resides in every living cell of the body and brain. Kriya practice clears and stimulates the brain and gives strength. It also greatly magnetizes the body, saturating and feeding all its physical cells with undecaying light and keeping them in a magnetized state.

 

Spirit is Self-born. Spirit is ever-conscious. God's attention is equally distributed everywhere and is fully concentrated everywhere. We human beings, being made in His own image, have latent within us the power to concentrate our attention and to feel our existence everywhere. Through properly following the laws of living and through faithful practice of Kriya Yoga, a person can enlarge his consciousness and quickly reach the ocean of cosmic consciousness, or divine spirit.

 

 

Paramahansa Hariharananda

Sjá: www.hariharananda.org

 

Ég miinni á að kennsla í kriya yoga fer fram helgina 23. - 25. maí. Sjá betur hér: www.kriyayoga.is

Maya

 

Allt hið sýnilega er maya. Maya mun hverfa fyrir tilstilli visku. Við verðum að leitast við að losna við maya sem tortímir huganum. Eyðing hugans þýðir tortíming maya. Hugleiðing [hugleiðsla] er eina leiðin til að ná valdi á maya.

 

 

Swami Sivananda

 

 

 

Hér getið þið lesið greinina Frá táli til veruleika eftir Grétar Fells þar sem hann talar m.a. um hugtakið maya: http://www.gudspekifelagid.is/gretar_fells_fra_tali_til_veruleika.htm 

Kúndalini II

 

Orkustöðvarnar (chakras)

Orðið chakra lýsir í raun alls ekki því sem við er átt. Það þýðir bara hjól eða skjöldur. Þarna er um að ræða að minsta kosti tvenns konar fyrirbæri sem einu nafni eru kölluð chakra...

 

Fyrst er múladhara sem er fjórföld, neðst niðri við mænurót, þaðan ganga nadíurnar upp; svadisthana sem er í hryggnum heldur ofar en lífbeinið, hún er sexföld; manipuraka sem er í hryggnum á móts við sólarplexus aðeins ofan við naflann, hún er tíföld; anahata sem er á móts við mitt brjóst og gerir talsvert mikið vart við sig hjá fólki; visúddhi sem er efst uppi í hálsi, fram undan mænukringlu, hún er sextánföld, og anja, stöðin milli augnabrúnanna og er hún tvöföld...

Hvirfilstöðin heitir sahasrara (eða brahmarandhra, þúsundblaða lótusinn) og er rétt fyrir ofan hvirfilinn (þetta síðasta er frá mér komið allt hitt er frá Sigvalda Hjálmarssyni)

 

 

 

Sigvaldi Hjálmarsson - Kúndalini. Grein úr ganglera

Kúndalini I

 

Kundalini-mátturinn er ekkert annað en máttarpólinn á móti persónulegri vitund þinni. Hann er hinn endinn á sjálfum þér.

 

 

 

En nadíurnar sem skipta máli eru fjórtán, og það eru ekki lítil vísindi að finna þær og verkun þeirra í sjálfum sér. Af þessum fjórtán eru þrjár langmerkastar. Þær eru í bakinu. Af þeim er ein mikilvægust, súshúmna sem liggur frá mænurót neðst niðri og allt fram á milli augna og, eins og það er orðað, áfram. Hinar tvær eru ida og pingala sem sumir segja að vefjast utan um súshúmna, önnur frá hægri, hin frá vinstri, en aðrir lýsa þeim svo að þær séu hvor sínu megin við súshúmna upp eftir bakinu, og meira segja hefur einn haldið því fram að þær krossist í hálsinum og sameinist svo allar í anjasentrinu milli augnanna.

 

 

 

Sigvaldi Hjálmarsson - Kúndalini. Grein úr Ganglera frá árinu 1992, vorhefti. Þetta brot er úr fyrstu greininni af fjórum.